1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a polyarylene oxide and a method of producing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Polyarylene oxides are widely used in applications such as engineering plastic materials, coating film materials, insulation materials and the like because of excellent performances such strength, insulation property, dielectric property and the like.
As a method of producing a polyarylene oxide having such excellent performances, there is known, for example, a method in which 3-ethynylphenol is oxidatively polymerized in a mixed solvent of organic solvent/water using an enzymatic catalyst such as laccases and the like (JP-A No. 2000-63499).
However, the resulting polyphenylene oxide has a ratio of hydroxyphenylene to oxyphenylene of 40/60 and a hydroxyl equivalent of 290, namely, its thermal stability is not admitted as sufficient.
